When we use question words with prepositions in Portuguese they form a prepositional phrase that changes the “direction” of the question word. The placement of these prepositions is before the question word itself. Knowing these will add to your language tool kit and expand your range of sentences. Let’s look at the most frequent ones in this lesson and how they change the meaning.
What’s a preposition?
A preposition is a word or group of words that we use to show direction, time, place, location, spatial relationships, or to introduce an object. Some examples of prepositions are “in,” “at,” “for,” “of,” and “to.”
Preposition + Quem
para
por
de
de
com
Prepositions + Onde
When a preposition is used with onde, it changes the relationship between the question and the place. The preposition normally comes before onde.
para
de
*Donde is an older or colloquial form of de onde and is less common in careful contemporary European Portuguese.
por
Here, por onde asks about the route or way taken rather than the destination.
a
However, there is an important point for learners of European Portuguese: onde is also very commonly used with verbs of movement in everyday speech.
So you will hear both:
Aonde vais?
Onde vais?
Both are natural, although aonde makes the idea of movement towards a destination more explicit.
For learners, it is useful to remember:
onde = where
aonde = where to
de onde = where from
Don’t worry if you hear onde being used where you might expect aonde. This is very common in everyday Portuguese.
até
Preposition + Que
para
por
em
a
Prepositions + Quando
